Cup of Excellence Coffee Competition Adds ‘Experimental’ Category to Brazil Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine

International judge at the 2023 Brazil Cup of Excellence. All images courtesy of Cup of Excellence.

The Cup of Excellence (CoE) coffee competition and auction platform was born in Brazil more than two decades ago and has since expanded to coffee-producing countries around the world.

Given the Brazil CoE’s position as an example of international market-building in coffee, it was a big deal when the competition featured a major format change last month.

Wet, Dry and Experimental

The 2023 Brazil CoE introduced the top 10 winners in three categories — as opposed to 30 winners in a single category — wet, dry and experimental titles.

According to Cup of Excellence Executive Director Erwin Mirisch, the move reflects the desire of producers who are looking to preserve the coffee’s longstanding reputation for flavor profile and consistency, while also allowing market-driven innovation in creative post-harvest processing.

“It’s a way to compare apples to apples and give each process a fair shot,” Mirisch told DCN by phone recently. “It’s much easier to analyze each process separately.”

Mierisch, who took over as the international nonprofit’s top executive in June, said the change in Brazil was largely prompted by requests from the Brazil CoE in-country partner, the Brazil Specialty Coffee Association (BSCA), as well as representatives of other Brazilians. the producer

He said these producer groups wanted to protect the country’s decades-old reputation for traditionally marketing “pulped natural” process coffee.

Under the new categories, traditional “pulped naturals” fall under the “wet” banner, natural-processed coffees fall under “dry,” and all other eligible coffees are considered “experimental,” reflecting relatively new post-harvest processes that involve fermentation before removal. This latter category may include labels such as “anaerobic fermentation” or “organic maceration”.

Mierisch told DCN that either naturally occurring or added yeast was allowed in the “experimental” category, with no other flavors or additives other than water.

‘loud’ in the cup

For several years until 2018, the Brazil CoE maintained separate categories for “pulped natural” and “natural”.

Mierisch says the decision to bring back the multiple-section format was motivated by challenges related to calibration and consistency on the cupping table when adding a third section (experimental).

“These coffees are much stronger when you cup them… the sweetness and acidity really separates,” Mierisch said of the new fermentation coffee. “One of the biggest problems with COE in the recent past – and I think this is true of any coffee competition – is that it becomes an identification game, especially if there are more inexperienced cuppers.”

Mierisch says that the same phenomenon with identifying post-harvest processes can be true when working with coffee cultivation.

“Accordingly [former CoE] Chief judge, that was a problem I had,” Miarish said. “For younger analysts or cuppers, it was difficult for them to communicate what they were looking for beyond whether they were geisha. [variety] or anaerobic [process] Or whatever.”

Mierisch noted that the format change so far only applies to the Brazil CoE, and that CoE format changes in other countries will only be made in consultation with country partners.

“One of our main objectives is to portray the countries we work with,” says Mierisch.

2023 Brazil CoE winner

The winners of the 2023 Brazil Cup of Excellence will not be overshadowed by the format change.

Mantiqueira de Minas’ producer group Ipanema Agrícola’s Fazenda Rio Verde farm took the top spot in both the wet and experimental categories.

Previously, a pulp-natural Geisha-variety coffee took the competition’s overall top score of 92.15. Next, an “anaerobic fermentation” gesha grown at 1,250 meters above sea level scored 91.32.

In the dry (“natural”) category, Fazenda Renha, part of Fazenda Certaojinho Lida in Reggio Volcanica, took the top spot, along with another Gesha coffee.

The 2023 Brazil Cup of Excellence auction is scheduled for December 6, 2023. Find more CoE competition results and upcoming auctions here

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